Mr Kent takes up the role for a seven-year term following what CI\u00c9 described as an extensive and competitive recruitment process.<\/p>\n
He succeeds Lorcan O\u2019Connor, who has moved to take up the role of chief executive officer at Transport Infrastructure Ireland.<\/p>\n
CI\u00c9 is one of Ireland\u2019s largest public transport providers, overseeing nationwide bus and rail services used by millions of passengers each year through its operating companies, which also include Rosslare Europort and its travel agency CI\u00c9 Tours.<\/p>\n
Mr Kent previously served as chief executive office at Bus \u00c9ireann from 2018 to 2025, where he led a wide-ranging organisational transformation programme within the publicly owned operator, it said.<\/p>\n
During the period, the National Transport Authority and the Department of Transport worked on a number of initiatives, including the introduction of Ireland\u2019s first fully electric regional city bus network.<\/p>\n
Before becoming CEO of Bus \u00c9ireann, Mr Kent was appointed chief commercial officer at the company in 2013.<\/p>\n
He previously worked in the private sector with Waterford Crystal and drinks group C&C \u2013 which owns well-known brands such as Bulmers and Tennents.<\/p>\n
\nI am delighted to join and lead CI\u00c9 at such an exciting period of growth<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Aidan Murphy, chair of the CI\u00c9 Group board, said Mr Kent\u2019s experience across the group would be central to delivering its future plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cStephen contributed significantly to the CI\u00c9 Group during his time in Bus \u00c9ireann and I know he will use that experience and his undoubted skillset to advance the ambitious plans in the CI\u00c9 Group and the public transport sector more broadly,\u201d Mr Murphy said.<\/p>\n
Speaking following his appointment, Mr Kent said he was taking on the role at a key moment for public transport in Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am delighted to join and lead CI\u00c9 at such an exciting period of growth for public transport in Ireland,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said CI\u00c9\u2019s new strategic plan would be very citizen-focused and would prioritise climate action, sustainability, property asset development and shared services, alongside strengthening the group\u2019s financial position to support future investment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mr Kent takes up the role for a seven-year term following what CI\u00c9 described as an extensive and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[17208,79,11802,18,17640,19,17,6561],"class_list":{"0":"post-269098","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-bus-eireann","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-dublin-bus","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-iarnrod-eireann-irish-rail","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-rory-mcginn"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115844642716176045","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}